Oldie But A Goodie: It Doesn't Get Better Than Irani Chai & Brun Maska at Yazdani Bakery

Yazdani Restaurant and Bakery is your best bet for satiating the Irani chai and {super} buttery brun maska craving with an old world charm and lip-smacking, fresh cakes as an added bonus.

Yazdani Bakery can be quite easy to miss in the crowded, narrow by-lanes of Fort. After asking around and nearly giving up, the cornflower blue walls with their bright red border suddenly peek out from between the drab brown walls surrounding the establishment. A wooden name-board hangs from the roof, leading you on to a lost world of warm, buttery goodies.

Yazdani Bakery has, for more than three generations, been synonymous with chai and brun-maska, every Parsi and Parsi food lover’s evening fix. Once we enter the bakery, we are taken in by the scent of cakes hanging in the air; the bakery, which is housed in the same building, is churning out fresh bread, brun pav, khari biscuits, nankhatai and a delicious apple pie. The day’s menu is written in colourful chalk on a blackboard hanging at the door. Regulars sit on the wooden benches, catching up on life, love and everything in between as cups of milky Irani chai and the fresh brun while a very generous dollop of Amul butter does the rounds at the Spartan white tables. The yellow walls, peeling in places, document Yazdani’s era gone by- adorned with posters in German {yes, they are said to be quite the loyal ‘foreign’ clientele at Yazdani!}, and framed pictures of strapping gentlemen showing off their chiseled muscles, we suspect it’s all in the maska!

A plaque declaring Yazdani Bakery as an ‘Urban Heritage Monument’ in 2007 occupies a special place of pride. Egged on by the friendly waiter, we soon found samplings of every cake and cookie piling up on our table! We ask him what makes the cakes and biscuits so special, ‘Amul butter and age-old baking’ is the answer. Dipping the brun into the cup of milky Irani chai, we were momentarily lost to the world around us, even with the chaos of baking, cutting and sorting of bread and cakes in the background! The staples are the khari biscuits, shrewsbury cookies and fiery ginger biscuits; but the winner, of course, is the fresh, soft brun-maska, a golden yellow pound of deliciousness that melts in the mouth.

Whilst the brun-maska is the showstopper, don’t leave Yazdani without tasting the special apple pie, which gets over almost as soon as it’s brought out of the wood-fired oven. Sure, it may not have the polish of an upscale bakery, but the special seasoning of ‘love’ that goes into the making of the goodies can be savoured in every bite of the sweet, crumbly filling. You could even pack some for home. A visit to Yazdani will take you back by a few generations and that’s for sure.

Charming, light on the pocket and super good for the heart, Yazdani deserves a visit, for its chai, maska, warmth and endearing conversations with the ever-smiling staff.